MAFS stars ‘reeling’ after Logies snub

MAFS stars ‘reeling’ after Logies snub

With all of the explosive drama that erupted from it, Married At First Sight dominated national conversation for the first quarter of the year and smashed it in the TV ratings.

The MAFS finale episode on April 8 drew in a whopping national TV audience of 2.611 million viewers.

So, it comes as no surprise the reality juggernaut has received two nominations at this year's 61st TV Week Logie Awards for Most Popular Reality Program and Most Outstanding Reality Program.

However, if the hit Channel 9 show does manage to receive an award on the night, a majority of the cast who contributed to its success will not be there to collect it.

News.com.au is told only eight of the show's 24 cast members have managed to score an invite to the coveted event, while the remaining 16 have been snubbed.

Jules Robinson, Cameron Merchant, Martha Kalifatidis, Michael Brunelli, Heidi Latcham, Nic Jovanovic, Elizabeth Sobinoff and Mike Gunner will all attend the awards ceremony, which will be held on the Gold Coast on Sunday night.

The selection may come as a surprise for many, considering some of the show's most memorable contestants failed to make the cut.

Villainous bride Jessika Power may have amped the show's drama levels up to heights we did not know it could reach with her affair with intruder Dan Webb, however her antics were still not enough to secure her a spot on the awards ceremony's red carpet.

Nor was her friend Ines Basic's affair with Samuel Ball. Despite the outspoken bride being at the centre of the season's biggest scandal and also expressing her desire to attend the event with Channel 9 for a number of months now, she has also been left off the invite list.

Jessika and Ines, MAFS 2019’s most infamous duo. Picture: Matrix

We are told the pair are "reeling" and feel they "deserve" to attend considering they had the biggest storylines on the show and were the two biggest stars of the season.

The pair are also especially "pissed off" considering their former "BFF" Martha - who seems to have been recently dropped from their clique - managed to score herself an invite despite not being what they classed as a "main character" in the series.

Ines and Jess provided most of the drama on-screen this year. Picture: Matrix

Speaking of that dress, we hear the reason the feisty Filipino bride has been excluded from attending is because Channel 9 wanted to avoid a repeat of that infamous red wine incident occurring at the prestigious event (which would have surely added a bit of excitement to proceedings), and Martha agreed to only attend on the condition her archrival did not.

Cyrell and Martha’s infamous altercation. Picture: Channel 9

It might also have something to do with her current feud with former best friend Lizzie, who recently confirmed the official end of their friendship by blocking Cyrell on Instagram after a "heated phone call".

A source told us Cyrell was "furious" she and her boyfriend, Love Island star Eden Dally, had been left off the invite list, reportedly describing the decision as "unfair".

Even fan favourite Gympie farmer Mick Gould won't be in attendance, telling us his "invite must have got lost in the mail".

"I couldn't give a rat's ass to be completely honest," he says. "I wasn't a suck-up throughout the series, so that's probably why, but I'm more than happy to not be a part of it all."

When asked why the entire cast was not invited to the event, a TV Week spokesman said it was a question for Channel 9 "who manage all invites for their shows".

Channel 9 has refused to comment.

Last year, only eight tickets were bestowed upon MAFS alumni, a decision that caused controversy, especially with cast member Nasser Sultan who accused the network of only inviting its "favourites" to attend despite the whole cast contributing to the show's success.

"It looks like there's favouritism … We made the show," Nasser told Kyle and Jackie O at the time. "What does Channel 9 do? Invite Dean, Ryan and Ashley. What about all of us?"

And on the night, Dean Wells also confirmed to Yahoo "not everyone got invited".

Instead, Channel 9 hosted a Logies viewing dinner and after-party at the nearby restaurant Nineteen for the snubbed guests.

They declined to comment when asked if the same would be happening this year.

Megan Pustetto is a freelance journalist. Continue the conversation @meganpustetto

Michael Brunelli and Martha Kalifatidis will also be in attendance. Picture: Jonathan Ng